Forensic Psychoanalysis: From Sub-Clinical Psychopaths to Serial Killers
Part of The Forensic Psychotherapy Monograph series - more in this series
Book Details
- Publisher : Routledge
- Published : November 2024
- Pages : 254
- Category :
Psychoanalysis - Catalogue No : 97878
- ISBN 13 : 9781032901176
- ISBN 10 : 1032901179
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Forensic Psychoanalysis examines the traumatic psychological origins of violence and explores the ways in which such disasters can be prevented and treated.
The book encapsulates Professor Brett Kahr’s lengthy career in the field of forensic mental health, investigating all aspects of this vital arena, from the history of criminality to the current-day application of psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapy to the care of rapists, arsonists, genital exhibitionists, paedophiles, and murderers. This gripping text surveys more than one century of literature on the psychotherapeutic treatment of the criminally insane and provides tremendous insight into the how mental health professions can contribute to the reduction of global violence.
Forensic Psychoanalysis will be crucial for all readers interested in both the prevention of criminality and its psychological treatment.
Reviews and Endorsements
This is a work of genius. We are extremely blessed to have Brett Kahr as part of our community. His contributions are truly remarkable in so many different arenas.
Dr Estela Welldon is Emeritus Consultant Psychiatrist at the Portman Clinic in London and an Honorary Member of the American Psychoanalytic Association as well as the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the British Psychoanalytic Council
Once again, Professor Brett Kahr has given us a rich work about the treatment of all kinds of offenders. He is one of the most experienced practitioners in the field of forensic psychotherapy, and his books never fail to inform and stimulate. He writes with warmth and humanity about what he learned from decades of meeting people for therapy, and his writer’s voice is “analytic” in the best sense, going beyond the surface level. There is so much to recommend in this book, especially the chapters on the historical account of the development of forensic psychotherapy and on what Professor Kahr calls the “sub-clinical” patient, describing people with intense feelings of cruelty, hate, and rage who have no history of convictions for violence. The book ends with a plea for more psychotherapy for perpetrators of violence because it can really help people change their minds for the better – a view which I heartily endorse.
Dr. Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist at Broadmoor Hospital. She has worked in prisons and secure psychiatric facilities for over thirty years and has published widely on the theory and practice of forensic psychotherapy
In this engaging book, Professor Kahr combines the intellectual rigour of an academic historian with the acumen and compassion of an experienced clinician. His analysis of the development of forensic psychotherapy is compelling and highlights the remarkable achievements of the discipline to date. Importantly, he also emphasises future roles for forensic psychotherapy in addressing social inequality, prison reform and, also, taking a preventative, public health approach to violence reduction and to “rehumanising the dehumanised”.
Dr. Colin Campbell is a Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and Associate Medical Director of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, UK, as well as the President of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy
This is an utterly splendid and extraordinary book for several reasons. Professor Kahr skilfully manages to draw us in and open our eyes to the fascinating field of forensic psychoanalysis through his expert and careful examination. Due to his vast and deep clinical knowledge, as well as his artistry as an historian par excellence, we are invited into the extreme end of human experience and its many challenging manifestations in the consulting room. This book deserves your study.
Richard Curen is Chair of the Forensic Psychotherapy Society and a member of the Board of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy. A Visiting Lecturer and Supervisor at the Portman Clinic, and a member of the Institute of Psychotherapy and Disability, he works in private practice in London
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Series Editor’s Foreword
Special Foreword by Dr. Carine Minne
Preamble - Confessions of a Private Forensic Practitioner
Introduction - The Ugly World of Forensic Mental Health
Section One - Forensic Psychotherapy as a Profession
1. “let the great Axe fall”: From Ancient Babylonian Torture to Modern Forensic Psychotherapy
2. Explosive Patients: Surviving Petrifying Psychotherapeutic Experiences
Section Two - Sexual Forensics: Genital Exhibitionism and Paedophilia
3. Why Do Men Expose Their Genitals?: The Unconscious Origins of Exhibitionism
4. From Penile Trauma to Flashing: A Case of Forensic Disability Psychotherapy
5. Fragile Monster: How to Make a Paedophile Talk
Section Three - The Psychodynamics of Murder: From Infanticide to Serial Killing
6. When Daddy Kills the Dog: Pet Murder and the Infanticidal Attachment.
7. Castration Anxiety in Men Who Murder
Section Four - Forensic Patients in the Community: Sub-Clinical Psychopathy
8. The Sub-Clinical Psychopath: Committing Crimes Without Breaking the Law
9. Criminality in the Bedroom: Unconscious Sadism in Non-Forensic Couples
Conclusion - The Future of Forensic Psychoanalysis
Endnotes
Original Sources of Chapters
Professor Brett Kahr’s Selected Forensic Publications: 1985-2025.
References
Index
About the Author(s)
Professor Brett Kahr has worked in the mental health profession for over forty years. A clinical registrant of both the British Psychoanalytic Council and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy, he is Senior Fellow at the Tavistock Institute of Medical Psychology in London and, also, Visiting Professor of Psychoanalysis and Mental Health at Regents University London.
Over the decades, Kahr has worked in the National Health Service and in private practice in Central London with both individuals and couples. He is currently Consultant Psychotherapist to The Balint Consultancy and, additionally, Consultant in Psychology at The Bowlby Centre. He also serves as Chair of the Scholars Committee of the British Psychoanalytic Council, as well as Senior Clinical Research Fellow in Psychotherapy and Mental Health at the Centre for Child Mental Health.
Professor Kahr is the Honorary Director of Research at Freud Museum London and, also, an Honorary Fellow of the museum. Previously, he served as Deputy Director of the International Campaign for the Freud Museum from 1986-1987 and, more recently, as Trustee of both Freud Museum London and of Freud Museum Publications from 2011-2020.
In addition to his clinical practice, Kahr has collaborated with the media in order to promote mental health knowledge. Formerly Resident Psychotherapist on BBC Two, broadcasting about mental health issues to millions of listeners, he has appeared on over one thousand radio and television programmes. In recognition of his work in this field, he has become Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University. The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy recently awarded him an Honorary Fellowship for his contributions to public service.
Professor Kahr is the author of sixteen books and series editor of more than seventy-five additional titles on a wide range of subjects.
His solo-authored books cover a range of topics, including clinical investigations of extreme psychopathology and forensic mental health, such as his titles, Bombs in the Consulting Room: Surviving Psychological Shrapnel, as well as Dangerous Lunatics: Trauma, Criminality, and Forensic Psychotherapy. He has also written on Sex and the Psyche, a Waterstones Non-Fiction Bestseller and a chosen title in the Sunday Times Book Club, based on his study of the traumatic, unconscious roots of over 20,000 adult sexual fantasies, as well as Celebrity Mad: Why Otherwise Intelligent People Worship Fame. His historically orientated books include the very first biography of Donald Winnicott, entitled D.W. Winnicott: A Biographical Portrait, which received the Gradiva Award for Biography, as well as the popular titles, Life Lessons from Freud, Tea with Winnicott, and Coffee with Freud. Most recently, he has released Freud's Pandemics: Surviving Global War, Spanish Flu, and the Nazis, the inaugural title in the new Freud Museum London Series of history books, published by Karnac Books exploring not only how Sigmund Freud navigated the tragedies of his own lifetime but, also, how he would have handled the COVID-19 pandemic and what lessons our world leaders might learn from those pioneering psychoanalytical concepts.
Professor Kahr has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with Karnac Books and has produced many books with this publisher and has also served as series editor or series co-editor or consultant to four of its monograph series. More recently, he has become Series Editor of the Freud Museum London Series, hosted by Karnac Books in association with Freud Museum London, as well as Advisory Editor-in-Chief to Karnac Books and to its sibling imprint Confer Books.
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